The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy and political history and strives to apply the lessons of history to the nation’s most pressing contemporary governance challenges. more →

Welcome to the Miller Center

From presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush.

Presidential Oral History

“For my presidency, and for others, the Miller Center is a place that gets history and preserves it for future generations.” - President George H.W. Bush

The Miller Center's Presidential Oral History Program has systematically and comprehensively debriefed the principal figures in the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton, with on-going work on George W. Bush and plans to do the same for future presidents. We have conducted special projects on important topics in political history, including an oral history on the life and career of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Read More →

“[Clinton is] a great ‘come let us bring our people together’ and in that respect he runs contrary to the adversarial strain in American politics, which are institutionalized in our two party system. …He was always looking for a way to sublimate or get beyond the hostile dynamics of an interpersonal situation or of a state-to-state confrontation.” More →Interview with Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense for George H.W. Bush, 1989-1993. More →Listen to excerpts from oral history interview with Reagan officials as they talk about the 1981 assassination attempt. Only two months into his presidency, the shooting left Reagan and three others seriously wounded. More →Listen to an excerpt from the Jimmy Carter Oral History Project where President Carter reflects on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in 1979. From a November 1982 oral history interview.More →This excerpt features Hamilton Jordan, White House chief of staff in the Carter administration, on Ted Kennedy's challenge to President Carter in the 1980 Democratic Primary. He contends it was a primary reason for Carter's loss to Ronald Reagan. Excerpt taken from the November 6, 1981 interview, a part of the Jimmy Carter Oral History Project. More →